#also cecily/gabriel

[bookishjules]

Im so excited for bib but sad to not see any tid couples other than wessa, what do you think could have been good stories of them?

gabrily:

i know i mentioned this in my last ask about them but gabriel and cecily figuring out their footing as a couple would have made a great story. if gabrily was a romcom, we kinda just got the first half of their story in tid, and it would have been cool to see some kind of friction arise between them that they would have come out all the stronger for.

as much as it would hurt, i also think there's a good story to be found in the aftermath of chot. being parents and shadowhunters wouldn't always allow people the time and space to grieve and heal and learn how to cope, and i think it would be something special to see them find solace in each other. it would also be interesting to see how the way they look at little alexander changes, since he's in the very unique position of being brought up in that aftermath.

on a lighter note... gabrily proposal!! since edmund and linette are still like.. in their lives to at least some extent, do we think gabriel would have done the respectful 1880s gentlemanly thing to do and talk to her parents first? also the potential for cecily to give that proposal a 10.. i would cry.

chenry:

their first time after realizing they were in love with each other the whole time. i really don't need to add any details here hehe makes me aksdfadsjk just thinking about it.

their first time after henry becomes a paraplegic. the self-consciousness on his part, his insistence that charlotte deserves better, will always deserve better than him. charlotte being like fuck that, we'll figure this out. and then they do and it's sweet there's laughter and love just threaded throughout

it would be great to see them as parents when the boys were young too (and i swear that's not just because imagining baby matthew makes me inexplicably happy). just finding moments to look at each other and smile, or sneak away for a quiet moment together away from the busy-ness of being the consul's family with the chaos of raising two very different boys who definitely got on each other's nerves.

sophideon:

there are two stories in my head that are similar to ones above but i think would also be good for sophie and gideon. the first is how they handle grief post chog. and the second is their young family. i think a story about them just laying in bed discussing their kids would be so sweet.

as for more specifically gideon and sophie stories... their wedding would be wonderful i think. sophie being the one whose doted on for once, the one having her hair done up by charlotte and tessa, and how out of place that would feel for her. gideon getting nervous not because of cold feet but because sophie is the closed thing to an angel he's ever seen. he's such a silly-in-love lightwood and watching him walk down the aisle with gabriel and stand beside sophie would be beautiful.

the two of them moving into a house together in idris. i feel like this could have a lot of potential generally, but there's this specific kind of moment i'm thinking of where sophie is cleaning out of habit and gideon either joins her or takes over for her, telling her to relax, or to read to him if she insists on doing something useful. there's so much tenderness that could spark from that.

[helenofblackthorns]

I knew this was going to happen. I knew it and it still doesn't hurt any less. i knew this scene was coming

[imherongraystairstrash]

oh sad you lost your wips, I love all your published fics so much specially how well you get Kit, Anna, Cecily and Gabriel personalities

Thank you for your kind words!! I’m posting this fic-let about them as a way of showing my gratitude 🤍 thank you for reading!!

Windy Willows

Characters: Cecily Herondale, Gabriel Lightwood, Anna Lightwood (little), Christopher Lightwood (also little)

…

The branches of the willows outside of Cecily’s former bedroom swayed in the light breeze. Towards the horizon, one could see the sprawling mountains in the distance. 

Cecily had only lived in her parent’s house in Yorkshire for a short while before she had gone in pursuit of her missing brother, therefore she didn’t quite feel a strong attachment to it. She did remember her childhood home in Wales with a deep sense of longing. She would have loved to visit that house once before she died, though she wasn’t quite sure it would ever be possible. 

That wasn’t to say Cecily didn’t like her parent’s house in Yorkshire. She found it quite cosy, and secluded (which was better for her father, who was one to succumb to bad habits easily). She also found that visiting with her husband and children made it less lonely. She got to make new memories in this house, plagued by past ones of her coming to this house with no companions nor any knowledge of the area. Cecily had always been a lonely child, even in Wales, but moving to a new country, with no familiarity, no fond memories of her (then gone) siblings; she only had half of her father and a worried mother who fussed over Cecily, cried on her shoulder, made her carry the emotional burdens of Linette’s marriage.

Now Cecily felt stronger, like she could face these things. She could finally be her mother’s and father’s daughter, and not their savior; she didn’t have to be the solution to all of their problems.   

Ironic, that it took her having children for them to finally relieve her of that role. 

She didn’t particularly want to think about her parents right now, though. She turned around on the bed she was laying on and smiled at Gabriel. Their little family of four had piled into Cecily’s room, the mountain air finally getting to their heads and making them all drowsy. Well, all of them except Christopher. 

While Anna slept curled up against the crook of her fathers arm, Christopher was still fiddling with a clockwork toy of his that Cecily’s mother gifted him (it goes without saying that Cecily and Gabriel were not too pleased by this gift, for they didn’t have the best experiences with clockwork in the past, but for course they didn’t let it show, for that would be disrespectful to Cecily’s mother, who only had the best intentions).

Gabriel’s eyes were already drifting closed and Cecily felt herself do the same. Christopher also had a tired face to him, but he seemed to be fighting better than his family members.

“Kit, how about we put away the toy and go to sleep for a while?” Cecily said.

Kit didn’t reply, only continued to fiddle with the toy, as he usually did when he was very concentrated on something. 

“Kit,” Cecily repeated. 

The little boy looked up at her. “Would you like to put the toy away?”

“No thank you, Mam.” 

Gabriel grunted in laughter. Cecily didn’t have it in her to get angry with Kit, or try to scold him, when he so clearly wasn’t trying to be rude. He did in fact answer very politely, only he didn’t understand the meaning behind Cecily’s words. 

“Have you figured out how it works, son?” Gabriel asked.

Kit nodded with a yawn. 

“How about you explain it to us?” Cecily said, curling up on her side and hugging her son close to her body. 

Kit was very enthusiastic by this request, and began to explain what he had deduced about the mechanisms behind the contraption. Cecily was too tired to follow his string of thought, though she focused on his speech and how his words gradually became more slurred and spaced out. She couldn’t help but smile as he finally trailed off, words replaced by deep breathing. She saw that Gabriel too, had nodded off to sleep. She finally let her heavy lids shut and fell into a deep sleep, her smile remaining trained on her lips.

[caterpillarinacave]

TID as Pictures I Found on Pinterest: Part 3

Jessamine when Tessa’s random shady mundane brother whose made of red flags shows up out of nowhere:

Cecily during the battle of Cadair Idris:

Will:

Gabriel and Gideon @ their dad:

Jem after any physical exertion:

Sophie finding that letter in Jessamines room:

Basically every event in the trilogy:

Will when demon pox turns Benedict Lightwood turns into a worm:

Jessamine @ Nate at the end of Clockwork Angel:

Sophie watching Jessamine sneak out in men’s clothes:

Cecily when Charlotte points out Henry’s the only one who can get them out of Cadair Idris and he’s basically dead:

Will, in reference to the Lightwood Brothers:

Everyone @ Will:

Charlotte:

Everyone when Benedict Lightwood turns into a worm:

Charlotte when her husband is dying and some 16 year old is telling her to just leave him there:

[heronducks]

everyone in chain of thorns after Christopher died:

[livia-dovehallow]

why would falling asleep in a carriage make him a bad father?

I saw some saying chot proved he didn’t care much because he didn’t do anything when Alex thing happened, which again was a super OOC scene in a book with many questionable narratives

no idea! i guess they're claiming that means he's ignoring his family which is insane honestly like can a man not sleep? he also just came from a boring ass dinner i would sleep too

in that exact same scene, Christopher is leaning on his dad's shoulder ALSO falling asleep and Anna refers to Gabriel as "Papa" which is a title of endearment (as opposed to Father)

that scene in CHOT cannot be used as an end-all-be-all of his character, especially when there are numerous other examples that contradict his behavior. here are my thoughts on it:

Would he have actually held Cecily back from rushing Tatiana to get Alex back? For a moment, yes, and I'll tell you why. In that exact moment, I would expect Cecily to think with her heart before her head to get her toddler son without anything to actually help her stop Tatiana. I think Gabriel would hold her back long enough to give her something useful then let her go again while being right behind her himself, saying something to Tatiana.

But he didn't even react! He reacted a little, and I think that it was woefully understated in CHOT than what we actually would expect from him and what I would consider actually in-character. He definitely was stated to look angry (as one would be when your psychotic sister is holding a knife to your child's throat), but where the track goes disasterous for his characterization is that he doesn't do anything about the anger except hold Cecily, who is described to be near-hysterical (also a bit out of character for her, too, even if she is canonically more affectionate in nature). If they were actually given the size of role they deserved in CHOT, Gabriel would have been the one speaking (angrily, but controlled enough not to immediately put Alex in more harm's way), and Cecily would have been actively scheming some kind of plan to get her son back safely. Gabriel and Cecily aren't stupid, and despite their tendency to be rash when younger, they've been parents for nearly 20 years at this point, and they would do what it takes to get their babies back BUT without putting them in even more harm's way. This is where I think people's anti-Gabriel/Cecily points just aren't valid. You can't expect them to immediately rush at someone who is inches away from killing their kid, even if they desperately want to. They have to be careful. Alex can't protect himself in his situation, unlike perhaps what Anna or Kit might have been able to do if it were them instead. They've trained--Anna is a full Shadowhunter as she is past the age of majority--and can actively help their parents get to them by mitigating risk factors. Alex is THREE. He CAN'T.

This turned into a much longer rant than I expected but god I hope none of y'all ever have to face such a situation with your own kids because obviously you think rushing into dangerous situations without a plan is a great idea

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I agree with this one post I saw: Cecily should have been the one to kill Tatiana. First, she almost murdered her son Alexander (and though he was thankfully rescued, the bitch still hurt the poor infant). And then she was responsible for her son Christopher's death.

[the-best-of-the-myrmidona]

hear me out

Anna and Izzy would get along so well.

Gabriel and Alex would absolutely adore each other

Gideon and Robert might hit it off.

Cecily would box Stephen around the ears

So would James and Cordelia

Will would teach Jace the Demon Pox Song

They would feed the ducks in Central Park poultry pies too

Kit would also be there

Jesse would be surprised that ty is the only one with blackthorn hair while everyone else looks like Lucie.

Gabriel would be deathly afraid of Max

And Rafael

Any more?

[witchlingcirce]

One thing I genuinely really like about the last hours and the dark artfices is that you can see how different Cassie’s original plans for the series were.

Btw all this information is stuff you can find on her tumblr from like 2010 and above!!!

Like for TDA in particular, Julian was meant to be really heavy smoker, Cristina’s name was Carmen and she was definitely going to have a very different personality (Cassie mentioned how this ‘Carmen’ liked to dye her hair), Livia was going to tell people her name was Olivia because she thought Livia was odd, AND there was meant to be another blackthorn! Who was originally going to be around 5 I think? And her name was Ariadne!!

Now the last hours is one where you can 100% see the major differences in how the characters and story was originally planned. I don’t know how long Cassie had actually planned this series for, but it was definitely a longggg time.

One major difference is definitely just the characters in general. If you look at James in the midnight heir his personality is so drastically different, there was meant to be alot more characters (I.E, Charlotte and Henry where meant to have daughters which I wish we got!!!). Not to mention appearances were very different as well!!!

Anna was going to have green eyes, and Christopher was going to have longer hair (look at that pony tail!).

Another example of this!!! I don’t think I could make who half these characters, and ngl looking at this feels so cursed!!

I think it’s meant to go Alastair, Alexander Lightwood (Gabriel and Cecily’S youngest son), next to him is either Cecily or most likely an earlier conception of Anna, Lucie and Cordelia, James and Matthew, behind them is Jesse and Grace I think! I than… Charles and Christopher??? Very odd duo. On the boat is herongraystairs, and than next to them I think is meant to be more lightwoods? I presume whoever they were would be our now Thomas, Eugina and Barbara. And I could not tell you for the life of me who was behind them.

I think the last hours is especially fun to look at because they have a decent amount of old fanart!!! Looking at white Alastair and Cordelia feels so… like it doesn’t even seem like it could be them!

TLH was also her series most impacted by covid!!! And she had planned to give the series a more tragic end, so I’m really curious what her original plan for that in particular was. I have theory’s something was meant to happen with Matthew but that’s just me.

I really enjoy seeing the difference in the original plan and what we got! Seeing the earlier stages feels so weird!!

(All lovely drawings done by Cassandra Jean)

[cassandraclare]

no mourners, no funerals

spoilers!!

poesflowercrown asked: Why didn't we see kit's [Christopher Lightwood's] funeral

Okay, so quite a lot of the questions I’ve gotten are some form of “Why wasn’t there a funeral for Christopher?”

And the answer is that Christopher surely did have a funeral — but that it strikes me as fairly obvious why he didn’t have one that took place during the time when London was under attack by Belial. Also, had they had a funeral in Idris during this time (where his body was, and where they have funerals), we have no POV characters who are there to see it.

After that, we jump ahead six months, and obviously his funeral isn’t going to be after such a long period of time has elapsed — instead we see grief at the stage of what it is often like after half-a-year: the most active part of the mourning is over, and the Shadowhunters are moving into fitting Christopher and the grief for him into lives that go on and go forward. James dreams of dead Christopher almost every night, and yet he is still moving on with his life: they are Shadowhunters, this is how they live, knowing life can always be interrupted by destruction, battle or war, and knowing (in a way mundanes don’t) that any day carries with it the possibility of immediate death and loss.

Now, could I have shattered the structure and timing of the book to shove in a funeral between the coda and the wrap-up of the epilogue? I think it would have been a lot of more jarring and weird than people realize, but I also think that it wouldn’t have offered anything. I get a lot of questions that seem to think a funeral for Christopher would have offered “closure” somehow — either to the characters or readers — and the fact that I don’t think it would have done anything like that, or offered anything useful or meaningful, is partly why I didn’t include it.

Shadowhunter funerals aren’t like mundane (human!) funerals: they’re not for closure, but rather for generally honoring the dead of war, because the Shadowhunters live in a constant state of war. What would have happened at a funeral for Christopher is that he would have been burned on a pyre along with Elias and those who died freeing London; people would have come up and given polite condolences to Gabriel and Cecily, the Consul would have given a general speech, and that’s about it. We see this with Livvy’s funeral. — how it is entirely unspecific to Livvy. We see how much closure her funeral offers her family (none, basically.) I think what people are imagining as “Christopher’s funeral” (everyone cries, makes speeches, has feelings) is not what a Shadowhunter funeral is.

There is one more thing I would say, which is that death, as depicted in art and fiction, is not required to offer closure. Sometimes the point is to sit with that lack of closure, and feel the absence of that person, that character, because living with the death of someone close to you is often living without total closure: sometimes for a long time, sometimes forever. That is okay. It is not required of books that emotions be neatly put away at the end of them, like guest towels. Sometimes they are just there to be felt afterward.

[I have also seen people say that Christopher’s friends didn’t mourn for him — which is so bizarre I haven’t decided whether to address it or just leave it as a Thing We Totally Disagree About, like the many questions I get about how we “never see that Tessa loves Jem” or “Isabelle doesn’t care that Max died” etc. Sometimes you just can’t see eye to eye about things; I don’t really get how Thomas being so stricken by Christopher’s death that his physical appearance is literally altered forever, or Anna “turning to stone” with grief, or Matthew being unable to even say Christopher’s name without flinching in pain, is “not mourning”, but we all have our different ideas of how things should be depicted. I tend to believe in a less-is-more philosophy about showing intense emotion, but we are not all that way!]

Anyway, closure. The intense mourning for Christopher in the Sanctuary is short-lived not because the Shadowhunters have gotten bored mourning intensely, but because of Belial. Because they are at war, and then and forever their grief for Christopher must fit itself within the interstices of them needing to save the world. In looking at research into Shadowhunter mourning, I looked at the way people mourn when they are either civilians in war, or soldiers on the front lines, because all Shadowhunters are all least one of those things. A great deal of intense compartmentalizing is required, because the preservation of life going forward must be the priority. The Shadowhunters know this; they are raised knowing this. They know that not only may you be called upon to sacrifice your own life to be what you are, but that it is likely you will lose other people, and if you lose them in battle, you have also sacrificed the ability to stop the world and engage in just grieving. You sacrifice, sometimes, even the ability to bury your dead or to know where they died. As Lucie observes:

“And now they were back at the Institute courtyard, which was empty and quiet, as it always was. There was no scar here, no sign of the dreadful things that had happened there such a short time ago. Lucie envisioned a plaque: HERE IS WHERE IT ALL BROKE APART. Matthew and James’s vanishing, Christopher’s death—they seemed both very close, a trauma still ongoing, and yet far away.

On the other hand, she thought, this courtyard had been torn up by Leviathan a couple of weeks ago, and there was no sign of that, either. Perhaps to be a Shadowhunter simply meant drawing runes over one’s scars, over and over.”

They mourn, they grieve, they have to go on — to “draw runes over their scars” — because the other option is wallowing in grief and doing nothing to prevent Belial winning. Lucie is feeling these things as “far away” because they have to be shoved down in order for the Shadowhunters to continue doing what they need to do. They can’t lie on the ground and scream NOOOOOO for days; they honor Christopher by going on, by seeing his project through to the end and using it to save countless lives. Which is what Christopher would have wanted — not a cold and monotonous funeral in Idris.

So short answer: I didn’t think a funeral for Christopher would have provided anything worthwhile to the story, but rather would have made it worse. In the end, that’s usual the answer to the why of any decision. :)

[helenofblackthorns]

also I was bored last night so here are a bunch of other height charts I did

[imherongraystairstrash]

I FOUND THIS IN MY DRAFTS:

Tatiana glared. “You never helped me when we were younger. You treated my like a child—”

“You were a child.”

“Shut up! You will regret not helping me.” Tatiana said. “Gideon too. You’ll both pay for this.” Though she was talking to Gabriel, Tatiana was staring at Christopher. Gabriel stood so that he was blocking his son from her view. 

“Is that a threat, sister?” 

Tatiana simply turned on her heel and walked away. Gabriel wanted to go after her, and he also did, had Cecily not shut the front door before he could move. 

WTF DID I LITERALLY PREDICT CHOT BEFORE CHOI EVEN CAME OUT?!?!?!

[caterpillarinacave]

Post-TLH Angsty Gabrily Snippet

Alexander Lightwood meets the Fairchild children for the first time and is enamoured, a bittersweet joy for still mourning Gabriel and Cecily

[Alexander] met Marigold and Thelma first, then was beckoned up onto the couch next to his father, who much to Alexander's surprise was holding another bundle. He pointed out that they said there would be two girl cousins, and Alexander had already met them both. Where did this thing come from?

 “There are two girls, Alexander,” Gabriel had said gently, pulling Alexander closer, pulling the blanket a little bit away from the bundle “But this is Peter. He’s your cousin too.”

In Gabriel’s arms Peter yawned, made a tiny "urp" sound, then opened up his little eyes, hazel gaze meeting vivid blue for the first time ever. 

 “Where did you find him?” Alexander asked curiously, leaning over the baby.

“We didn't find him Alexander” Gabriel chuckled softly, “He’s Marigold and Thelma’s brother. We thought there would be two, babies but your Aunt Charlotte had three. It seems you do get a boy cousin. 

Without really thinking Alexander stuck out his hand to the baby offering him his pointer finger. 

There was a pause , then Peter reached up a little hand, and wrapped a small fist around Alexander’s finger. 

“Papa,” Alexander whispered, “Papa, I love him.”

 “I’m glad.” Gabriel put a hand on his son's back, his voice hoarse, “I’m very glad, Alex.” 

For awhile they sat there quietly, Alexander staring in wonder, and Gabriel blinking back heavy bittersweet tears. After a few minutes Gabriel handed Peter back to Henry (Alexander still sticking to the baby's side), excusing himself, and ducked into the hallway, followed quickly by his wife. 

[pupsmailbox]

hai, in need of gender neutral name ideas:)

masc or fem leaning names r fine, i also like masc names that give off a neutral divine vibe

names like ciel, blake/blade, remiel

some might be closed so make sure to do your own research !! also i have this and this !!

CIEL︰ airi. anais. anaïs. aria. asher. august. aura. aurora. bijou. blue. cael. caelia. cala. calah. calais. cale. caley. calla. callia. camille. cashel. casimiro. castiel. cayla. cecil. cecile. cecilia. cecily. celeste. celine. ceres. ceyla. chael. chaeli. chelle. chill. chilli. christy. cicily. cielle. cili. ciqala. circe. clay. clea. cloud. clément. coll. coralie. csilla. cualli. cybele. cyrus. czelaw. delyth. dione. donati. dream. eluned. esca. eulalie. fia. finn. florentin. génie. hadas. hero. honora. hyperion. jasper. kahlo. kai. kirion. laslo. levi. liam. libra. louise. lucien. luna. micah. miel. mirage. oliver. orion. phoenix. sarabi. sebastian. seraph. soleil. suri. tau. tawera. violet.

BLAKE︰ alec. arden. asher. ashton. audrey. austin. ava. avery. bailey. baker. balesego. balius. bayleigh. belicia. bellachay. bilge. black. blaga. blagoy. blaine. blair. blaire. blaise. blake. blas. blayke. blaze. bliss. blues. bluesy. blush. bolesia. bolko. briar. brock. brooke. brooks. bryce. caleb. cameron. carson. carter. charlie. charlotte. chase. chloe. clay. cole. colton. cooper. drake. drew. dylan. elaine. ella. elliot. ellis. emerson. emma. ethan. finley. gavin. grayson. harper. hayden. hazel. hudson. hunter. ivy. jack. jackson. jake. james. landon. lane. layne. liam. logan. luca. luke. mason. miles. noah. oliver. olivia. owen. parker. quinn. reese. riley. river. rowan. ryder. sawyer. wyatt.

BLADE︰ abraxas. ace. aiden. alain. alexander. aria. asher. aurora. autumn. ax. axel. ballad. balta. balto. bane. belita. benjamin. bentley. blaise. blayze. blaze. bleta. blithe. blodwedd. blythe. bolt. boyd. braden. braeden. brayden. braydon. bullet. bulut. charlotte. chase. clay. clyde. dagger. danger. dash. denim. diesel. draven. floyd. gage. grayson. hazel. isabella. jax. jett. jinx. justice. king. klay. liam. lloyd. onyx. quade. rogue. ryder. said. silas. slade. stone. storm. talon. violet. wade. wayde. zaid. zayd.

REMIEL︰ adel. adriel. airlia. aksel. alora. amenadiel. anael. anna. arbor. azalia. azrael. balthazar. beleth. bobby. broderick. caster. diana. doris. elizabeth. emilien. eris. fenris. gabriel. harmonia. helio. honor. jophiel. jove. lennox. leyre. lilith. milo. moira. nimbus. orias. rachel. raeden. rael. raiden. rami. ramiel. rapahel. raphael. raylen. raziel. reid. remington. romeo. romy. ronan. rumi. rylan. sabriel. samael. sammael. sariel. sitka. theia. themis. uriel. varda. vivian. zackariah. zadkiel.

[liesramblings]

The ghosts of the TID gang

We talk about the ghosts of Gabriel and Cecily giving Robert and Maryse a piece of their minds for how they originally treated Alec, but I think we also need to consider the ghost of Will Herondale materializing and giving Stephen a piece of his mind for joining the Circle- he'd be like "How DARE you upset your great-great-grandmother! After all we went through!"

[livia-dovehallow]

i did saw posts calling him absent or neglectful, many based on “Cecily is the one with Alex not him” or “he has daddy issues because of Benedict therefore he interacts little with his kids”

but well, Im glad I have your fics showing the true Gabriel and not this unfortunate takes, so thank you once again for filling ao3 with IC gabrily

you're very welcome I love giving the world more gabrily content (even if only one person reads them besides me, that makes my day!)